Saudi Arabia: The Chinese General Contractor Chengdu Design & Research Institute of Bldg Materials Industry Co Ltd in Chengdu has placed an order with Gebr. Pfeiffer SE for the supply of an MPS 3070 BC cement mill for Readymix in Saudi Arabia. The 1100kW drive power mill will grind 30t/hr of granulated blast-furnace slag and 46t/hr of Ordinary Portland Cement to a fineness of 4000cm²/g and 3600cm²/g, respectively. Delivery of the equipment is scheduled for 2015.

Oman: Oman's government has approved the construction of an industrial hazardous waste handling and treatment plant at Sohar in the North Al Batinah Governorate, according to Mohammed Sulaiman al Harthy, executive vice president (corporate strategic development) of Oman Environmental Services Holding Company. The plant will be built at Liwa, not far from Sohar Port, home to the Sultanate's biggest heavy industrial hub.

The facility will handle the estimated 1.47Mt/yr of potentially harmful waste generated by the country's burgeoning industrial sector. It will serve as the cornerstone of hazardous waste management infrastructure being developed for the entire country and will include specialised landfills and transfer stations in Duqm and Dhofar Governorate.

According to Al Harthy, Sohar accounts for around 90% of the country's current industrial hazardous waste output, with significant amounts of slag being generated by the metallurgical industries operating in the industrial port and the nearby industrial park. Approval also been granted by the Supreme Council for Planning and Sohar Industrial Port.

The complex will include storage facilities and pre-treatment units. There will also be a dedicated waste solidification facility with 100,000t/yr capacity, alongside a physical/chemical treatment plant designed to process 1000t/yr of waste. A thermal treatment plant of around 50,000t/yr capacity is envisioned as well. Additionally, areas have been allocated within the site to accommodate 28Mm³ of industrial slag, which will be used for reclamation.

India: Harsco Corporation has announced that it has begun a multi-year contract to provide onsite material processing services to India's largest stainless steel producer, Jindal Stainless Limited (JSL).

The project at JSL's all-new production facility in the growing steel-producing area of Jajpur, Odisha marks Harsco's fifth major steel mill services site in India and its first serving India's stainless sector. Harsco's services include specialised process technologies for recovering metal from stainless steel slag co-products.

"From 1Mt/yr of stainless steel production, we used to lose 5000 – 6000/t of metal embedded in slag," said JSL Unit Head, SK Agrawal. "With this new set-up, Harsco will handle all slag, treat it to recover metal and generate a metal-free slag." The metal content recovered by Harsco is available for reuse in the production of new steel, while Harsco continues to develop a number of commercial products from the residual slag material.

US: Essroc Italcementi Group has signed an agreement with Holcim to purchase its slag cement grinding facility in Camden, New Jeresy. As part of the transaction, Essroc will also obtain Holcim's cement terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. The acquisition will finalise when the pending Holcim and Lafarge merger completes later in 2015.

"The acquisition of the Camden slag grinding facility reiterates Essroc's commitment to the northeast market," said Francesco Carantani, Essroc's president and chief executive officer. "With the focus on sustainability and durability, there is a projected growth in the demand and usage of slag cement."

The Camden facility can produce upwards of 700,000t/yr of slag cement. Essroc currently produces slag cement at its Picton, Ontario, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, cement plants and at its slag grinding facility in Middlebranch, Ohio. With the addition of Camden, Essroc has a combined annual production capacity in excess of 1Mt/yr. Holcim's staff in Camden and Everett will join Essroc once the transaction completes.